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| Kathleen O'Connor |
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born:
07 July 1894 Dayton, Ohio, United States of America |
died:
24 June 1957 North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States of America (cerebral hemorrhage due to arteriosclerosis, age 62) |
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American actress. Her first of two husbands was Lynn Reynolds, a newspaper reporter who later became an actor. He committed sucide by shooting himself dead in front of her after an argument.
The 1900 Census says she was born in 1893. She doesn't seem to have an "official" birth record or newspaper birth announcement. The 1894 birth year is on her death certificate. Her Dad was a Dayton, OH city policeman. By 1900, the Mom already had 6 children and possibly had difficulty remembering all of their birth dates. By 1910, there were 10 living children in the family. At Findagrave.com, biographers James Lacy and Bobb Edwards have different accounts of Lynn Reynolds' suicide. James Lacy:"....marriage ended in tragedy when her husband fatally shot himself February 24, 1927, after a quarrel in their home at 8281 Fountain Avenue in Hollywood. He had returned from shooting the film "Back to God's Country" in Bishop, CA after being snowbound with the cast and crew for several days. During a welcome home party, he and Kathleen got into an argument after she reportedly teased him about being too friendly with "God's Country" co-star Renee Adoree. Accusations of infidelity came from both sides, ensuing in a fight climaxing with her husband shooting himself in the head. He died the next day..." Bobb Edwards:".....At the beginning of February 1927 Reynolds started production on "Back To God's Country," an Alaskan adventure tale starring Renee Adoree. He took the cast and crew to the Sierras, near the California-Nevada border, for what was expected to be a three-day location shoot, but a sudden blizzard left them snowbound for nearly three weeks. The weary filmakers came home on February 24. That night, at a cocktail party celebrating Reynolds' return, O'Connor accused her husband of an indiscretion with Adoree. Reynolds flew into a rage, beat O'Connor savagely, and threatened her with a .38 pistol. One witness claimed Reynolds actually tried to kill his wife, but the gun misfired. Then he shot himself through the head. He died the following morning at a local hospital." Wikipedia account: "Returning home in 1927 after being snowbound in the Sierras for three weeks, Reynolds telephoned his wife, actress Kathleen O'Connor, to arrange a dinner party at their Hollywood home with another couple. During the dinner, Reynolds and O'Connor engaged in a heated quarrel in which each accused the other of infidelity. With his guests following in an attempt to calm him down, Reynolds left the table to retrieve a pistol from another room where he shot himself in the head." Lynn Reynolds was best known as a prolific writer and director of mostly "western films". In 1929, Kathleen married successful Hollywood real estate broker, Clark Reynolds (no relation to Lynn Reynolds) until her death. James Lacy says: "She was originally buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills CA, but was removed and reburied back in her native state in the O'Connor family plot on October 24, 1964". |
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Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography; plus 1 film with Babe Hardy; plus 1 film with Stan Laurel. |
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